Are DB Doing better?

Jim Steele

As a software house and part of the Star Trek Franchise, are DB doing better?

eXo | SilverRose (retired)

No

I'd link all the previous messages from Erin, Shan, Nod, Jon Radoff etc. telling us actions speak louder than words, so let them prove to us how better quality control processes and CS procedures are in place etc etc blah blah meaningless blah ... but, I'm past the point of trying to hold these guys accountable.

SvenLundgren

No

There is a lack of quality control.

RennJaxo

No

Quite the opposite in fact. At this point it honestly feels like DB is trying to out DBacle itself on a daily basis. Internal contest maybe? See who can make the biggest screw up in a week? If you told me that were the case, I would 100% believe you.

[Deleted User]

No

Overall? No.

The thought out Captains Oath compensation is proving a bit of a false dawn given the shenanigans since, shame really.

It's increasingly clear they've no interest in properly testing the game's features, no intention of fixing the ropey codebase or tackling a CS that's about as customer-friendly as Freddie Kruger with a migraine.

I'm very much hoping the fact they're actively - unintentionally, surely - pushing away some of the whales with their actions will serve as a wake up call.

<TGE> Clifford

No

I asked to speak to a supervisor on an open ticket, because the regular CS reps aren't allowed to issue what I was asking for.

The supervisor then sent me the same canned response they sent at least two other people in the last 48 hours (and those are just the people I've spoken with about it).

I'm not feeling super confident about progress.

Synthetic Commander

Yes

Making my vote based on the majority of players and the overall game. I feel that DB's response to last weekend's event was a drastic improvement over the FAR slower response to yargate, and on top of it we're seeing evidence of improved anti-macro which the community was screaming for. In the past week alone they've made 2 very significant improvements I can see, and I don't think they're getting enough credit.

I don't think what's happening to a select few people is fair (those who paid to rapidly FF data), and it's unfortunate that they have to work so hard with CS for a fair resolution. However, my few experiences with CS have all been very satisfactory, and I think sometimes our tendency to spam CS tickets immediately makes it very difficult to provide quality, individualized service that we'd hope for when we have a very serious issue like that.

Cranky (SC)

No

I’m getting canned and inappropriate responses to my tickets, despite asking for escalations.

Mistakes and errors seem to be happening more and more often, with slower and fewer appropriate notifications and fixes from DB.

More broken promises.

Quit Game

Yes

They have improved for quite a while now, unfortunately a number of bad things happened recently. I think that they have dealt with the issues well enough. Could they improve (a lot)? Absolutely.

Frank?

Have they given us large QoL improvements, new features, new collections, bug fixes and new content?
Absolutely.

Is the game better today than it was at launch? Two years ago? A year ago?
110%

So in those regards, yes - DB absolutely has done better.

Ishmael Marx

Yes

It could be bad timing to put up a poll on this subject. As we all know, there have been a few recent gaffes, and some still quite-raw feelings (and it appears some still-unresolved issues from those gaffes). So the recency effect is going to play a big part in the inevitable "no" responses. That is not to say they are unwarranted, but...

Overall, the game is better, and the company does appear to genuinely want to keep developing and improving it. It is disappointing that gaffes continue to happen with regular frequency, but the global picture is a "yes" - for me at least.

Frank?

Now, let's visit the term "Do Better" - which was centered around a campaign - started if I recall by - oh that's right - me.

I asked DB for a few things - improved communication, improved QA, accountability and to show the value to customers that have spent tens, hundreds, or thousands of dollars with them.

Did communications improve? This request was centered around event announcements and more specifically crew announcements with stats. That process was refined and now packs on Tuesday go on sale with stats that follow on forums, in-game-mail and on social media within an hour. That's a huge improvement over what it used to be, which was someone (SilverRose) getting first-to-max on a card and posting the stats. Granted, the stats *still* need to be made available at time of sale, not an hour later. They need to be in the little "i" tooltip thingy. But, it was a step in the right direction, so I give them that.

Did QA improve? Well, how many times have Tuesday 3x3 packs gone on sale with the new gold character missing from it? 4 that I know of. How about that Independence Day pack? Simple mistakes that could have been caught very easily had attention been paid - and then each time the line was given that "we will work to ensure that this doesn't happen again". Those words sound very familiar. We haven't touched on the numerous, numerous events that launch that have bugged crew bonus flags. Or events that end a day early. Or events that end an hour early. Or events that crash at the very end. Or events that give 4x the normal shuttle VP for a failure. So,I'd argue that absolutely no - QA did not improve.

Accountability is a big thing. This whole 'Do Better' campaign kicked off when I asked for Jon Radoff or Erin to show up on the forums and - you know -talk to the upset playerbase they have - address concerns - build a rapport with the community that gives you money on the daily. That was met with indifferent silence and just go-between messages that were given to Shan and Black Pebble to deliver. Whenever something screwed up, no one owned it, no one made me believe that a real effort was being made to drive improvements. Just words.

So that brings us to showing the value. Look, at this point, if you're reading and you've clicked "Yes" or you agree with "Yes" and you're only giving awesome's to the people who say "Yes", you're part of the echo-chamber. "DB did good on this compensation for me, so they're trying! People whine too much! Get over yourselves!" I could go on...
Sure. This is a mobile game. Sure, it has very finite value and shelf life. Sure, it's about a specific property that is the one unique thing that binds all of us together in some similar fashion, even if we are completely different in every other aspect. I get that. I don't debate it or pretend to think otherwise. This is the line item in "Do Better" that is a selfish one to me, to my household, to my friends. I've said before that every dollar I spent here is treated the same way as every dollar I walk into a Casino with - it's fun money and if I walk into a casino with a dollar, I've already lost it. I am perfectly fine with that and make no thoughts otherwise. However, again, I'm being selfish. If I spent $47,583 on *anything* on this planet, I would expect to get some sort of value for that. Sure the time I spent playing the game has value, as I enjoyed it - met cool people, had a lot of fun. But I also expect the merchant, vendor or company that I do business with and give $47,000 dollars to should also treat me with a bit more respect than they do. If they screw something up, I expect them, like any business, to own it and make it right. It's a pretty simple transaction there. When a company takes that money, makes constant mistakes, and then tells me that to save from devaluing my purchase or others purchases, there will be no refund on something trivial and silly - that's when I see that in fact *No*, DB has not done better.

Average Guy

No choice for maybe?

Dirk Gunderson

No

Frank has said a lot of the things that are on my mind. New collections are nice. New episodic content, the much-desired All-Combs event, and the desperately wanted Captain Spock all of these are good things...even the original plan for Oathgate error compensation was a huge leap forward compared to errors in the past. But have the core issues been fixed? Not really. QA is still nonexistent, CS is a frustrating mess, and communication leaves a lot to be desired.

eXo | SilverRose (retired)

No

Here is the link to the original Do Better thread, posted in March 2017: https://forums.disruptorbeam.com/stt/viewthread/61516

If you look at the major pain points listed there -- much like in the one from January 2018 that I linked yesterday -- you'll see that there's been marginal progress made on most fronts.

Pallidyne

No

Synthetic Commander wrote: »

Making my vote based on the majority of players and the overall game. I feel that DB's response to last weekend's event was a drastic improvement over the FAR slower response to yargate, and on top of it we're seeing evidence of improved anti-macro which the community was screaming for. In the past week alone they've made 2 very significant improvements I can see, and I don't think they're getting enough credit.

I don't think what's happening to a select few people is fair (those who paid to rapidly FF data), and it's unfortunate that they have to work so hard with CS for a fair resolution. However, my few experiences with CS have all been very satisfactory, and I think sometimes our tendency to spam CS tickets immediately makes it very difficult to provide quality, individualized service that we'd hope for when we have a very serious issue like that.

You mean the fact they sent compensation then pulled it?
I'm still without.

Hungry Dog DDM

No

As someone who has played this game since the first week or so of beta availability I have no problem saying, "They've certainly improved some things." Cryo was a vast improvement on things. Honor, also a vast improvement. This game would have had a much shorter run on my pocket book without those two things. However, as I vote no, I am unimpressed with the recent gaffes and currently the only thing they seem to be doing better at is giving me cause to continue to be a F2P. I'm coming up on almost a month without renewing my monthly card and unless something drastic happens, I don't see that changing.

[DCC] bebe has Badgey

Frank couldn't have said it better.

DeanWins

Yes

Maybe since I worked In customer service for years and years, and have played games like these for even longer, I am a bit forgiving.

Has DB messed up a lot? Possibly more so then any game of this type I have ever played. So you would think my answer would be no.

However, I am more interested in what they do, or attempt to do in some cases to make things right. I think they have made serious effort to fix all the blunders they have made, so as long as they continue to work at it, I am still here.

people say, DB doesn't listen to its customer base, I think it can be quite the opposite, sure it takes them longer then it should maybe to act, but I think they eventually attempt to address are issues. I think the anti Macro efforts are proof of that, if they didnt care what we thought, or felt, they would of never put these safeguards in place, and just said deal with it.

Is there room for improvement? without a doubt, but I do question why a lot of people still play this game if they think DB is doing such a horrible job;)

Webberoni

No

Adding my 2 cents to the conversation, as somebody who has been obsessively playing this game for the past 21 months, there is no doubt that the game itself has improved. The additions to the game in the nearly 2 years I've been playing are substantial (in no particular order):

- Saturday cadet challenge missions
- Shortened cool-off period between daily challenge missions and arena battles
- Fleet Starbase
- Achievements
- Cryostasis Vault
- Collections
- Honor Hall
- Voyages
- Honor
- Skirmish events


However, the quality control and customer service aspects of the game, seem to be getting worse. There are also several long-standing underlying issues that remain unresolved.


Personally, my suggestion for DB (TP?) would be to scale back or put development of new features and content on hold for a bit, possibly even giving players the odd week off from events, in order to address these significant underlying issues. With proper communication, I think the good-will gained by addressing these types of concerns would far outweigh any blowback that would come from slowing down or stopping new content development for a short while.

Skizzy • VIP0 • §ë

No

DeanWins wrote: »

Is there room for improvement? without a doubt, but I do question why a lot of people still play this game if they think DB is doing such a horrible job;)

Because the game is addictive, as it is designed to be, as it is essentially a form of gambling.

Webberoni wrote: »

Personally, my suggestion for DB (TP?) would be to scale back or put development of new features and content on hold for a bit, possibly even giving players the odd week off from events, in order to address these significant underlying issues.

People have been suggesting this since events started coming every week. I wouldn't hold my breath.

DeanWins

Yes

Well if the game is addictive as you say.. Then I guess DB is doing something right after all lol;)

<TGE> Clifford

No

DeanWins wrote: »

Well if the game is addictive as you say.. Then I guess DB is doing something right after all lol;)

I'm pretty sure we're just gambling addicts.

DeanWins

Yes

3/5 of Useless Silva <TGE> WC wrote: »

DeanWins wrote: »

Well if the game is addictive as you say.. Then I guess DB is doing something right after all lol;)

I'm pretty sure we're just gambling addicts.

True that! we should start a support group

ST_Dreadnought

No

I'd certainly be happy to help DB test new programmes and upgrades before sending out to the masses.

Emperor Borg Drone (SC)

No

I think there have been a lot of interesting additions and improvements, especially over the last year, but I voted "No" because with the latest additions and changes it's starting to feel as if they were trying to make the game more frustrating instead of more enjoyable (I'm talking about the new reward structure and the announced shuttles for rent). That might be because those changes are actually meant to make people spend more or because I'm a low-spending long-time player and consequently they make it more frustrating for a minority of people that I am part of.

This game isn't very rewarding once you've played for almost 2 years and have collected all the 4* you wanted or needed for your crew, since getting existing 5* that you actually want, with an investment of about 10 euros a month, isn't much easier than it would be for a lv 20 f2p player. And there isn't much else to focus on. So the only funny aspect is that you can get into top 1000 from time to time, with a reasonable effort and little or no extra investment. Changes that are aimed at making events more competitive and more p2w are what I find most disappointing, but then I guess that they don't affect the majority of players, so maybe I should just accept that this game is not targeted at people like me.

Mr. Lincoln

No

I am probably not going to uninstall, but I've become a bit weary of chasing the rabbit every week, and I am going to scale back my participation in the Timelines Casino. If this was an actual casino the comps would make it a bit more worth the effort, but, instead we get improvements many don't necessarily find attractive, while at the same time failing to address basic issues that have all have been mentioned already, no need to rehash.

I will still put in an appearance from time to time, and if things pick up, I may as well. This forum is a part of what has kept me interested, and I thank you all for that. See you around.

Odo Marmarosa

Yes

On the fence but I'm in an optimistic mood

Detra

No

A lot of reasonable points and concerns has already been brought up.

This isn't the first, second or third time issues has happen during events. I speak only from my perspective here, I don't want compensation fixes, I would like to see ( especially re-runs) to work as intended with no glitches. I get it from time to time thing happen, the amount of times it continues to happen so close to each other is my issue. I can't think of Mega Event that something hasn't been glitched up since the early ones.